I hear babies crying, I watch them grow
They'll learn much more than I'll never know~ Louie Armstrong What a Wonderful World
It's a great line from a beautiful song and wonderful musician. However, that second line haunts me at times...
I’ve always thought myself a rather “knowledgable” soul. I try to make it a point to learn something new, even if it is small, every day. To some degree I have to in order to stay on top of my job. Amidst all this are my kids, learning large number multiplcation and Mandarin far sooner than I did. I had to teach and train myself on the ins and outs of my computers, and my girls are flying through their tablets with ease. I was the kid in the house that had to teach my parents how to use the computer, and now I’m starting to wonder what things my kids are going to teach me how to use, since I’ll be completely ignorant on what it is or how it works!
Then there will come a point in time where the things my kids are learning (and forgetting) will surpass my years of studying, learning and growing. It’s amazing that we can continue as a whole to probe and discuss and think and discover new ideas and understandings about how this universe was designed by God. It’s a bit saddening and haunting to a “learn moar everythingzzzz” kind of guy that I am that I won’t be the catalyst for it because quite I might not be able to comprehend it fully.
So how much is enough? Is there a “core” that is sufficient to get us along in this life? A professor of mine gave us a saying early in college: Non sapere aude - Dare not to know. In one way this gives us the encouragement, nay the challenge, to be comfortable with the fact that you won’t know everything. In another way it challenges us to seek something deeper: wisdom.